YP Letters: Credit to Lib Dems for providing real Brexit opposition

DON Wood’s vituperative letter (The Yorkshire Post, January 30) about Paddy Ashdown and other Liberal Democrats cannot be allowed to pass unanswered.

Liberal Democrats are as patriotic as anybody. It is just that they also believe in international co-operation to foster harmony in the world. A major part of the incentive for setting up what became of the EU was to end the centuries of wars in Europe, in which it has been singularly successful.

On the economic front, after over 40 years of membership, UK has the seventh (some say fifth) largest economy in the world despite a population about 20th in the league table, so membership has clearly been beneficial.

Having said that, the Lib Dems, whose urging for a Remain vote was, remember, endorsed by 48 per cent of the electors, accept the referendum result but – given that no-one knew what a Brexit vote would mean in practice, and still do not – suggest that the electors should have a say on the actual proposal when we know what it is.

As for the assertion that the Liberal Democrats are “finished”, I would remind Mr Wood that they enjoyed a huge surge in the by-election for David Cameron’s Witney constituency followed by victory in the Richmond, Surrey, by-election and a hatful of recent successes in local authority by-elections.

With the Labour Party in disarray, the powerful recovery of a cohesive, left--of centre alternative to the present government should be welcomed.

A whole list of annoyances

From: Geoff Sweeting, Wressle, Selby.

I hope that you don’t mind this little rant, but there are so many issues that irritate myself and many of my friends.

A third runway at Heathrow – what is the sense in this? The skies over London are overcrowded, the public is up in arms about pollution and the loss of their homes. Why not develop Robin Hood Airport, with a direct rail link?

NHS funding – our local medical centre is small, but still suffers from a large number of missed appointments. There must be thousands across the country. Why not charge £10 or so for the patient’s re-arranged appointment?

Remainers – I’m sick and tired of the continual complaining from this group. They are forever mentioning the phony campaign by the Brexiteers, but never comment on their own phony campaign. What happened to the emergency Budget, the immediate recession, the loss of jobs etc, which were all forecasted by this lot?

Scotland – why doesn’t Theresa May tell Nicola Sturgeon where to go? Ms Sturgeon is living in cloud cuckoo land, thinking that the EU will happily accept Scotland as an independent nation.

Tim Farron – another perpetual moaner. Does he realise that the number of Lib Dem MPs doesn’t reach double figures at the moment?

End of rant – thanks!

Pledges that invite cynicism

From: ME Wright, Harrogate.

TRANSPORT Secretary Chris Grayling’s words to Leeds Chamber of Commerce must have sounded inspirational (The Yorkshire Post, January 30).

Might his promise of ‘a spectacular new transport gateway for Leeds’ go beyond the new station hub – a European-style rapid transit system perhaps?

He further reminds us of Yorkshire’s potential as “the capital of road race cycling”.

Does historic, well-founded cynicism suggest that, once again, Westminster duplicity will see Leeds told to “get on your bike”?

Demise of the cloakroom

From: Barbara Green, Victoria Avenue, Brighouse.

I HAVE to agree with your correspondent CE Wild (The Yorkshire Post, January 21) wholeheartedly. When my granddaughter started senior school five years ago, I, and her mother, were totally frustrated over the question of appropriate clothing.

My granddaughter adamantly refused early on to wear clothes appropriate to the weather. I had bought her a very nice Parka and boots but she refused to wear them, the reason being the lack of a cloakroom and that the school could’t guarantee the safety of coats.

On phoning the school about the situation, we were told that there were no cloakrooms as there “was no space”.

When I was at school, we wore blazers in summer and coats and boots in winter. We had a cloakroom.

If cloakrooms cannot be had any more due to pilfering pupils, then either their teachers must teach them better ways or lock up a cloakroom.

Offensive garbage

From: Helen Atkinson, Scampston.

RE your article “Don’t say mother. It may cause offence says BMA” (The Yorkshire Post, January 30) and Editorial the following day.

Yes, it has caused offence to me, a mother, and I am sure to 99.9 per cent of other mothers who have read this article regarding calling pregnant women “pregnant people” in order to avoid offending transgender people.

As I read your article, I genuinely thought it was a joke as there were so many other commonly used phrases that the BMA wish their staff to avoid using, for example substituting ‘surname’ for ‘family name’.

How much time, effort and money has the BMA wasted in providing guidelines which amount to utter garbage?